The aim of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of using moulds made from the environmentally friendly sands with hydrated sodium silicate in modified ablation casting. The ablation casting technology is primarily intended for castings with diversified wall thickness and complex shapes made in sand moulds. The article presents the effect of binder content and hardening time on the bending strength Rg u of moulding sands with binders based on hydrated sodium silicate hardened by microwave technology. The aim of the research was to develop an optimal sand composition that would provide the strength necessary to make a mould capable of withstanding the modified ablation casting process. At the same time, the sand composition should guarantee the susceptibility of the mould to the destructive action of the ablation medium, which in this case is water. Tests have shown that microwave hardening provides satisfactory moulds’ strength properties even at a low binder content in the sand mixture.

Based on the analysis of a number of studies, it was found that to assess the state of the environment (including surface waters and soils) it is advisable to use indicators of microbiological pollution, which in general integrally reflect the state of the ecosystem. To assess the dynamics of changes in the pollution of the studied areas, a comparison of monitoring data with the corresponding level of pollution in protected areas (Vyzhnytsia National Nature Park) was used. Research methods included soil and surface water sampling, inoculation on appropriate nutrient selective media, counting of colony forming units (CFU) and other microbiological indicators. To assess the biological activity of soils, urease activity was determined by a method generally accepted in biochemistry. It is established that within the protected areas, despite some existing annual fluctuations, the relative stability of the studied indicators of the hydrosphere is preserved. Studies have shown that soils of anthropogenically altered landscapes are characterised by a high content of sanitary-indicative bacteria. As our research shows, according to the colony forming units (CFU), total microbial count, and titer of Escherichia coli, the soils selected in the protected area of the Vyzhnytsia National Nature Park correspond to the “pure” level. The soils of the territories out of the National Nature Park are characterised by high biological capacity, as evidenced by the level of activity of the enzyme urease and the ratio of the main forms of nitrogen compounds.

Dissimilar Al/Ti alloy sheets were lap welded with ultrasonic assistance in this work. The influence of ultrasonic vibration on formation, intermetallic compounds (IMCs) and tensile failure load of the obtained joints was discussed. The results showed that voids formed at the lap interface without ultrasonic assistance. No voids can be observed on the joint welded with ultrasonic because the vibration during welding improved the material flow. No obvious IMC formed at the Al/Ti bonding interface of the joint welded without ultrasonic assistance. An IMC layer formed at the bonding interface of Al/Ti with ultrasonic assistance and its thickness increased with decreasing the welding speed. The failure load of the joint welded with ultrasonic assistance was higher than the joint without ultrasonic because the void was eliminated and the thin IMC layer formed at the bonding interface was beneficial to joint strength. All joints presented shear failure mode during the tensile shear tests.

Production waste is one of the major sources of aluminium for recycling. Depending on the waste sources, it can be directly melted in furnaces, pre-cleaned and then melted, or due to the small size of the material (powder or dust) left without remelting. The latter form of waste includes chips formed during mechanical cutting (sawing) of aluminium and its alloys. In this study, this type of chips (with the dimensions not exceeding 1 mm) were melted. The obtained results of laboratory tests have indicated that even chips of such small sizes pressed into cylindrical compacts can be remelted. The high recovery yield (up to 94 %) and degree of metal coalescence (up to 100 %) were achieved via thermal removal of impurities under controlled conditions of a gas atmosphere (argon or/and air), followed with consolidation of chips at a pressure of minimum 170 MPa and melting at 750 oC with NaCl-KCl-Na3AlF6 salt flux.

Phase shift interferometry (PSI) derived from interference technique as greater surface characterization technique based on the interference information recorded during a controlled phase shift. This research shows the development of micro/nano structures using phase shift interferometry. (PSI) is the process of developing the complex pattern structure using variable phase angle between two or more beams aligned to obtain functional aperiodic arrays. We have designed and modelled the PSI and simulated through MATLAB in 2D and 3D pattern structures. The PSI was performed in two process analysis. First, without PSI referring normal interference technique. Second, with PSI referring position of laser beams in quadrant-based alignment. The obtained results show the minimum feature structure was measured as 12 nm. This feature size developed under phase shift interferometry (PSI) produces minimum feature size compared to the existing interferometry technique. This study gives the promising increased fabrication area could develop large area arrays structures.

Aurivillius Bi5-xHoxTi3FeO15 (BHTFO) multiferroic ceramics with different holmium doping contents were synthesized by conventional solid state reaction. The effect of holmium doping on the microstructure, structural and dielectric behaviors of BHTFO ceramics were investigated in details. Microstructure and crystalline structure studies of ceramics were carried out at room temperature while dielectric properties were investigated in a wide range of temperature (T = 25ºC-550ºC) and frequency (20Hz-1MHz).

The Buschke–Löwenstein tumor is a rare disease associated with human papillomavirus infec-tion. The condition manifests with an ulcerative, exophytic tumor localized in the perineal area. Generally considered as non-cancerous, the growth may develop malignant transformation. Our manuscript high-lights the importance of early diagnosis with histopathological analysis.

Accurate determination of material parameters, such as carrier lifetimes and defect activation energy, is a significant problem in the technology of infrared detectors. Among many different techniques, using the time resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy allows to determine the narrow energy gap materials, as well as their time dynamics. In this technique, it is possible to observe time dynamics of all processes in the measured sample as in a streak camera. In this article, the signal processing for the above technique for Hg(1-x)CdxTe with a composition x of about 0.3 which plays an extremely important role in the mid-infrared is presented. Machine learning algorithms based on the independent components analysis were used to determine components of the analyzed data series. Two different filtering techniques were investigated. In the article, it is shown how to reduce noise using the independent components analysis and what are the advantages, as well as disadvantages, of selected methods of the independent components analysis filtering. The proposed method might allow to distinguish, based on the analysis of photoluminescence spectra, the location of typical defect levels in HgCdTe described in the literature.